"That rotten old man's biased!"
The moment Sōgo Shihoin heard that his application for early graduation had been rejected, he stormed into the Shin'ō Academy's dean's office and roared.
"Please calm down, young master Sōgo!"
Mr. Ninomiya kept wiping the ocean of sweat pouring from his forehead with tissues as he repeatedly tried to reason with the young master before him.
"What's that supposed to mean? Looking down on me?"
"Or does Old Man Yama think his current Gotei 13 is actually impressive?"
"Nearly half the captains in his thirteen divisions are just dead weight!"
"Besides the captains of the First, Second, Fourth, Sixth, Eighth, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Divisions, can the others even be called captains?"
"Aren't those just six freeloaders?"
Sōgo Shihoin pounded the desk in Gorō Ninomiya's office, protesting nonstop.
"Well, well, even if you tell me that, there's nothing I can do. These are the Captain-Commander's orders. Unless you apply to the Central 46 Chambers and get their approval for your early graduation, there's nothing we can do either. This is already beyond my authority as dean!"
Gorō Ninomiya admitted that this was the most frustrating moment in his career as acting dean. After all, the person who had come knocking was that young master of the Shihōin Clan! There was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He could only put up with it for now!
Of Soul Society's Five Great Noble Clans, Gorō Ninomiya liked the Kuchiki Clan best. As the compilers of Soul Society's legal code, the Kuchiki Clan took pride in leading by example as paragons of nobility, so everyone from the Kuchiki Clan was rigidly proper and followed the rules to the letter.
Next, Gorō Ninomiya liked the Shiba Clan. As the only one of the Five Great Noble Clans living on the outskirts of the Seireitei (the Central 46 Chambers feared having all Five Great Noble Clans gathered together), they put on no noble airs whatsoever and were as easy to talk to as commoners.
After that came the Shihoin Family and that other clan. Aside from being somewhat thickheaded and disregarding other people's feelings, the Shihoin Family had no particular faults. They would never abuse their noble status to do anything out of line, and the same went for that other clan...
The clan Gorō Ninomiya hated most was actually the Tsunayashiro Clan. Its members always acted as though they were saying, I'm number one in the world! I'm the very heavens of Soul Society! Everyone from every other clan is trash! That was why Gorō Ninomiya detested the Tsunayashiro Clan most-or rather, there was practically no one in all of Soul Society who did not hate them. But they were one of the Five Great Noble Clans, and their ranks had no shortage of experts who could rival division captains, leaving no one able to touch them.
Right now, however, Gorō Ninomiya suddenly felt that the Shihoin Family was actually quite detestable too. They might not bully commoners, but bullying him was going too far as well!
Sōgo Shihoin had single-handedly lowered this dean's opinion of the Shihoin Family, but Sōgo Shihoin did not care about that in the slightest.
"You want me to go beg those rotten old men in the Central 46 Chambers?!"
"Are you kidding me? I'd rather go to class than beg them!"
With that, Sōgo Shihoin left the dean's office in a huff. He already found the Central 46 Chambers utterly loathsome. How could he go begging them over such a trivial matter now? Especially since he had once saved a noble brother and sister. When he heard that those bastards in Central 46 intended to make their entire clan fight Hollows over some trumped-up charges, for other nobles to watch as entertainment, he had been furious. If his older sister had not stopped him at the last possible moment, the Central 46 Chambers would have been history long ago.
In the classroom.
Sōgo Shihoin sat in the back row, constantly chewing the gum that big sister Senjumaru had made according to his "idea."
Crunch, crunch-the sound kept echoing through the classroom, yet not one person dared speak up to stop the big shot behind them, whose temper was running high.
Everyone attending class in the room now knew perfectly well how terrifying the big shot behind them was. After all, they were all new students too, and they had all seen that Kidō shoot into the sky and blast the entire roof away...
Feeling the spiritual pressure permeating the air and that terrifying, world-destroying power back then, even these self-proclaimed elites had sensed a gap that could only be called despair. Never mind their Kidō-even if they achieved Bankai with their Zanpakuto someday, they did not know whether it would be as powerful as the Kidō unleashed by this big shot named Sōgo Shihoin.
"Kidō is our collective term for the spiritual arts used by Soul Reapers, and it is divided into three types: Hadō, Bakudō, and Kaidō. Hadō is what Sōgo... young master Sōgo used on the ceiling during our placement exam. Of course, Hadō #91, Senju Kōten Taihō, which young master Sōgo used, is completely beyond the capabilities of students like you. Under ordinary circumstances, you only need to master Kidō below number twenty to graduate..."
The teacher stood at the lectern, explaining endlessly to the students below, but few of the students sitting in this classroom were actually listening attentively. After all, they were elites of noble birth. Unlike commoners from Rukongai, they had heard this basic knowledge more times than they could count. They even knew the incantations for Kidō below number thirty very well already.
Rather than the knowledge the teacher was imparting, they were far more curious about the man sitting in the back row, who had stolen the spotlight on the very first day at the opening ceremony by blowing up the entire training ground's ceiling.
"Um... why do you wear a blindfold?"
A beautiful young lady from the upper nobility, with sweet features and a faint blush on her face, was the first to strike up a conversation with Sōgo Shihoin. Her grandfather was currently one of the sages in the Central 46 Chambers. If her family wanted to advance further and gain greater power, there was no other way besides forging ties with the Five Great Noble Clans, who had a direct connection to the Soul King.
Yes, she had entered the Shin'ō Academy to train with a mission.
"Hm?"
Sōgo Shihoin looked with some confusion at the sweet-faced girl with the striking figure before him, then blew an enormous bubble that blocked both his face and hers.
"Huh?"
The girl from the upper nobility looked at Sōgo Shihoin in puzzlement, bewildered by the gigantic bubble he had blown before her.
Then, while the girl was still dazed, the bubble touched the tip of her nose. With a soft pop, the bubblegum plastered itself all over the beautiful girl's face...
"Seriously, I almost broke my record... Your pointy nose ruined my super-huge bubble record attempt!"
Looking at the girl with bubblegum all over her face, Sōgo Shihoin did not comfort her. Instead, he complained in a thoroughly unkind manner.
"Excuse me..."
The girl stood, bowed slightly to Sōgo Shihoin, and ran out of the classroom, sniffling.
"Hm?!"
Sōgo watched the fleeing girl, his blindfolded eyes filled with confusion.
"Pfft..."
"Ahem, ahem, ahem..."
Sitting on Sōgo's other side, Shaoling Fon first let out an involuntary laugh, but then, remembering that this was not the place, she coughed softly several times to suppress it.
(End of chapter)